The New 52: Futures End #32 Review
By Steve Lam
Writers: Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, Jeff Lemire
Artists: Scot Eaton, Scott Hanna, Hi-Fi, Ryan Sook
Futures End #31 Recap
At the Queen Foundation in Seattle, Lois Lane holds a press conferences and exposes Cadmus’s illegal experimentation on Earth 2 superhumans. On Green Arrow Island, Oliver Queen intends to have Emiko take over the mantle of Green Arrow. In Siberia, Superman and John Constantine find a Brainiac-controlled Midge and run into a Brainiac-controlled bear skeleton. As the bear explodes, Superman flies Constantine and Midge to safety. On Cadmus Island, King Faraday attempts to retrieve what’s left of the DNA storage vault, but finds it lost and destroyed. In Pittsburgh, Madison Payne learns from Jason Rusch that they are now the new Firestorm. Madison makes the decision to not tell Tim Drake about her new situation.
Spoiler-Free Reaction
Futures End #32 ups the humor slightly for certain plot lines, but still preserves some momentum. Leaving on a cliffhanger, it whets the reader’s appetite for #33.
Plot Details and Spoilers and Deaths: Oh My!
New York City: Plastique and Terry McGinnis do some bonding over pizza. At Terrifitech, Bruce Wayne tries to stop Mr. Terrific from launching his uSpheres, but Mr. Terrific thinks Bruce’s warning is only a ploy to destroy his business. Ignoring Bruce and to the fanfare of the public, Mr. Terrific makes an announcement that New York City will get the uSphere’s 24 hours earlier than the rest of the world.
Oakland, California: At the Earth Registration Authority, Cole Cash attempts to get his real identity back, but through a mix-up, they think he’s actually an Earth 2 superhuman looking for a fake ID card. Lana Lang isn’t much help as she jokes about how Cole is actually married to her and has the surname of Lang also. Leaving the office, Lana tells Cole that this is actually a good thing, as Grifter is a wanted murderer in the eyes of the public.
Cadmus Island: Fifty Sue is enraged that Deathstroke was killed before she could have chance at killing him. Putting on Deathstroke’s mask, she vows to go after Brother Eye.
New York City: Dr. Yamazake has also survived the transporter accident. He is now living within a magnetic field that his transporter created, but without any physical form. He quickly fashions a suit out of materials found in the wreckage — becoming Dr. Polaris. His mission is to now destroy the Justice League.
At a football field, still united as Firestorm, Madison Payne and Jason Rusch make another attempt at separating. Failing once more, Jason suggests that they go back to Yamazake’s lab to examine how the accident fused them.
Earth’s Orbit: The Carrier has returned and the crew of the Atom, Frankenstein, Angie, Amethyst, Hawkman, and Black Adam celebrate. Their cheers are cut short when S.H.A.D.E.’s Ant Farm starts to tow them in with a tractor beam. As they disembark the Carrier and step onto the Ant Farm, Father Time tells them that he’s here to collect Angie — he wants to use her in the fight against Brainiac. As the team vehemently refuses, Father Time prepares his collection of monsters to attack them and take Angie by force.
Wrapping It Up
Perhaps the biggest outcome of Futures End #32 is the creation of Dr. Polaris. The overall Futures End storyline has acted as an origin story for Dr. Yamazake’s alter-ego, and we finally get the final results in this issue. Other highlights for the issue were the humor. I think after the devastating loss of characters from the last few issues, they needed to neutralize the melancholy nature of the saga. Of course, you can’t mention Futures End without mentioning Fifty Sue, and she definitely had her crazy moment here — the putting on of the dead Deathstroke’s mask. It was morbid, but it was totally consistent with her character. As all the characters and their missions are now converging, I’m interested to see how the story will wrap up in the next sixteen issues.